The growing girth of Americans is colliding with government-mandated warning labels on all 2006 or newer cars that list the maximum weight

I can believe it.  The other day I watched 2 people get out of one of those little SMART cars.  Each of them weighed in excess of 250 lbs and I was amazed that they could both fit in there without oozing out the cracks.  I’m pretty sure those little boxes-on-wheels aren’t certified to carry anywhere near the combined weight of that couple.

I have been wondering about this for a while.

Being pregnant and all…I feel like I am trying to stuff a beach ball into a tuna can when I get in the car.  I have a Volvo station wagon, which isn’t really small, but the inside isn’t as big as an SUV or anything.  I have actually had to adjust my seat all the way “down” and back, so that my seatbelt still fits!    The seatbelt is on the post right behind my seat, next to the door.  In my mom’s truck, the seatbelt is stuck to the seat itself…which gives me quite a bit more room!  I like riding around in her truck. 

Anywho…I was just curious about whether or not cars can actually hold people up if there are many large bodies.  And 170 lbs/passenger isn’t that much.  Suppose you are driving around your own kid & a few of his football buddies.  You might max out that limit pretty quickly.  Jason is supposed to weigh about 190 lbs based on his height & body type.  He DOESN’T right now…but he hopes he can again.  (He was like 180 when we first met.)  I will hopefully lose lots of weight after the baby is born…but about 20-25 of that will still end up in the car with us.  (As baby plus infant seat.)  My poor car.  I never thought it might be getting stressed out b/c I was a Fatty McPregnant pants!

Actually, some of those sound like they really need to be raised, not that people are too fat. Especially the 170 pound one, as Maegan noted.

edit: Although, yes, people are too fat.

Not to mention, non-human loads.  What if you’ve got two 180 pound people and say 50 pounds of groceries in the car?

I drive my 1995 Escort Wagon loaded to the hilt with my performance stuff—probably at least 400 pounds depending on what’s in there.  (I did replace the Macpherson struts as soon as I bought this one.)  I frequently drive with that plus me (150 pounds) and a passenger in excess of 200 pounds.

I find it hard to believe that a much more expensive car wouldn’t be built to be more robust.  As noted, it could be an issue of high performance tires and rims, though.  I’m guessing those fancy big wheels with really low profile tires (so there’s more rigid wheel and less squishy air for more “responsive” handling) might be the issue.

Yes, people are too fat, but…

My husband isn’t the least bit fat, and he weighs 180. And one of my nephews is actually quite slender…but he’s 6’7”, so he’s still nearly 200 pounds, and my brother is in very good shape, but he’s 6’5” and he’s over 200 pounds. Anyway, my point is that a two-seater car certainly ought to be able to carry 400 pounds, and a five seater certainly should be able to carry five adults, even five adult males. So I’d say that while we Americans can certainly stand to lose some weight, the limits sound kind of unreasonable to me.

It reminds me just a bit of office furniture, which here in the U.S. is generally designed for people 5’6” or less. I haven’t been 5’6” since junior high, and how the men manage, I can’t even imagine.

I have absolutely no idea how much 200 pounds even is but for someone used to using kilograms it sounds bloody heavy!

And I really can’t be arsed looking it up either, I’m sure some nice person on here will do the conversion for me *hint hint*

roughly 91 kilos.

Except apparently the kilo doesn’t weigh a kilo anymore, so…...

JoeDaJuggler - 17 September 2007 08:43 PM

I drive my 1995 Escort Wagon…

Your car is pre-2006, Joe.  So you don’t have to worry about load limits.

Kathleen - 17 September 2007 08:47 PM

So I’d say that while we Americans can certainly stand to lose some weight, the limits sound kind of unreasonable to me.

I’m gonna agree with this.  Even though mini-vans are “made” for parents with kids…kids GROW.  My mom was fine with us in the back of a Lincoln town car for years…but as we got to be older than about 12…it was getting very uncomfortable to squish us all in.  And we were all normal as far as I could tell.  Cully and I were always tall…so our legs would get all tangled up if we sat next to each other.

So mom got a minivan.  This gave us a few extra seats & more leg room.  What do you do with empty seats?  FILL THEM!  We ended up taking a lot of friends along with us to our various destinations.  6 kids together…plus a parent.  And our friends grew too!  The growing wasn’t just a phenomenom in our own family.

And then there were the days when mom let me borrow the minivan to take my friends to the beach or something.  All my male friends were rather large…generally over 6 ft.  And even though the girls were mostly normalish, I’m sure all the gear in back (coolers, chairs, etc) didn’t exactly lighten the load.  Then add about 40 pounds of wet clothes on the way home.  I’m surprised we didn’t fall right through the skyway bridge!

The real marvel is how sturdy and strong the earth is.

Well, technically, isn’t it the earth’s fault b/c of it’s gravitational pull?  I’d be a lot lighter if we didn’t have so much damn gravity.